ulf wrote:I just find it ironic to bash the drafting but complain when they walk. The drafting hasn't been as great as it used to be, but they got Lewis, Vince Williams, Cortez Allen, Antonio Brown, Shamarko (jury's out), Worilds, it's been adequate.

Is your contention that they've been drafting well? The recent draft record certainly isn't something to hang your hat on, but it's not the root of the organizational flaw. It's the garbage cap situation they've put themselves in order to keep trying to compete.

I'm also concerned about how bad they're going to sabotage the future cap situation with Roethlisberger's next deal.

I think I explained it pretty clearly. It's not great, but not as bad as its made out to be. It's decent. Those were just mid round guys, throw in Heyward, Timmons, Bell, Decastro - there have been a nice amount of decent picks.

KennyTheKangaroo wrote:It seems to this gentleman that troy loney believes that teams should be in one of two phases: Contending for championships or blowing it all up and starting over

The teams willing to blow it up and start over generally are teams that don't have a quality QB. When you actually have one of those the incentive to blow everything up goes way down. The Colts are the only team I can think of off the top of my head that blew it up and started over when they had a QB and nothing about their situation was normal.

I'm not interested in a team who's strategy going into a season is "cross the fingers and hope things work out". Nothing is a given in pro sports, but when a team is in denial of their actual state, it makes for indefinite lost seasons.

As a pittsburgh sports fans, I think we should be fully able to recognize an organization flailing helplessly to field a competitor.

KennyTheKangaroo wrote:It seems to this gentleman that troy loney believes that teams should be in one of two phases: Contending for championships or blowing it all up and starting over

The teams willing to blow it up and start over generally are teams that don't have a quality QB. When you actually have one of those the incentive to blow everything up goes way down. The Colts are the only team I can think of off the top of my head that blew it up and started over when they had a QB and nothing about their situation was normal.

I'm not interested in a team who's strategy going into a season is "cross the fingers and hope things work out". Nothing is a given in pro sports, but when a team is in denial of their actual state, it makes for indefinite lost seasons.

As a pittsburgh sports fans, I think we should be fully able to recognize an organization flailing helplessly to field a competitor.

Look at the vets they've dumped over the last 2 years. Their actions pretty much make it clear they realize they aren't a contender at the moment. They're rebuilding. They aren't going to trade Roethlisberger even if you hold your breath until you turn blue in the face. If that's the only way you'll believe they are rebuilding then that's on you for expecting them to do something irrational.

Geezer wrote:http://www.behindthesteelcurtain.com/2014-steelers-free-agency/2014/3/10/5491402/steelers-cut-lamarr-woodley-2014-nfl-free-agencyDidn't see in the thread yet; hope I didn't miss it. Steelers cut super-hamstrings. It will be interesting to see if needing a job affects his work ethic.

Looks like the Steelers worked out a deal with Ike. I'd have cut him and moved on but I suppose they want an extra body in the secondary. My guess/hope is that they offered him a sharp pay cut like they did with Harrison last year and Ike decided not to make the same mistake Harrison made.

Rocco wrote:Looks like the Steelers worked out a deal with Ike. I'd have cut him and moved on but I suppose they want an extra body in the secondary. My guess/hope is that they offered him a sharp pay cut like they did with Harrison last year and Ike decided not to make the same mistake Harrison made.

As maligned as Ike has been, I'm not sure they could really just cut ties with him completely. Depending on what they worked out, it may be a good move.

Cutting Woodley is absolutely the right move. As great as he was back in 08 along w/ Harrison, he has basically been hurt almost non-stop since... and nowhere near good enough when he wasn't.

Also no problem with keeping Troy. He showed this year that when he stays healthy he can still be a damn good player; Yeah, some of the ZOMGWTFBBQ plays are not happening as he is perhaps just an instant slower, but he can still be a damn effective player out there.

I love Ike. He may be over the hill, but he has been very underrated over his career. Moreover, few players love Rooney and Lebeau as much as he does. When Rooney voiced his aversion to racial slurs in rap music, Ike spoke to the players in the locker room. He may not have the most advanced reading and writing skills, but I really think he is a class act. Perhaps I'm wrong, but I'm an irrational Ike fan.

Rocco wrote:Look at the vets they've dumped over the last 2 years. Their actions pretty much make it clear they realize they aren't a contender at the moment. They're rebuilding. They aren't going to trade Roethlisberger even if you hold your breath until you turn blue in the face. If that's the only way you'll believe they are rebuilding then that's on you for expecting them to do something irrational.

Very true, and there really isn't any need to rehash this argument again. Have to agree to disagree, I think the release of veterans in recent years has been solely reactive based on cap hits and declining play, I take it from your posts that to you it's a sort of controlled bleeding out as they take a systematic approach to letting the vets walk.